It is becoming increasingly attractive to use wireless nodes in a wireless network as relaying points to extend range and/or reduce costs of a wireless network. For example, in a wireless wide area network (WWAN) or wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) that requires deployment of distributed base stations across large areas, the base stations need to be connected to a core network and/or each other via some type of backhaul. In conventional cellular networks, the backhaul has typically consisted of wired connections. However, a wireless backhaul, rather than, or in some combination with, a wired backhaul is increasingly being considered to ease deployment and reduce costs associated with these networks.
A type of network which uses wireless stations (fixed infrastructure and/or mobile stations) to relay signals between a source and destination is colloquially referred to herein as a mesh network. While some attempt to distinguish the term “mesh network” and “mobile multi-hop relay (MMR) network” by virtue that the former may use fixed and/or mobile stations as relaying points and the latter may use only fixed infrastructure relay stations, they are not necessarily so distinguished and may in fact be interchangeably used herein without limiting the scope of the inventive embodiments.
In mesh networks, wireless network nodes may form a “mesh” of paths for which a communication may travel to reach its destination. The use of a multi-hop wireless mesh network and how to optimize communications through a mesh network have become the subject of much focus and there are ongoing efforts to increase the efficiency of transmissions through multi-hop wireless mesh networks. One notable issue is how to coordinate the selection of optimal transmission paths using new protocols and architectures for mesh networking as well as maintaining backward compatibility with non-mesh legacy wireless devices.